New Job, New Cards!

Wow...so much, so little time.

Life has begun to speed up toward the inevitable seperation from the same old same old and reach for the new. It's hard to believe I'm packing up my life again, but somehow this time it feels different and I'm finding myself excited saying good bye to non-essential stuff for the next few months of my life. My days are filled with the fun exciting stuff that comes with taking a "leave of absence" (getting a PO Box and a storage unit, making arrangements to have my apartment and carpets cleaned, etc) I'm just excited to have the chance to really focus again on writing. I feel like I'm going to CW all over again. Granted, my schedule will probably be 3-6 days on the river at a time with minimal writing (notes, outlines, scene sketches) but there will be up to a week in between trips where I'm idling and will have time to chunk in some serious writing time.

It suits my writing style - while I recognize it's important to do at least a little bit every day to develop discipline - when I'm working on a new project, I like to put down lumps all at once over a few days, rather than parse out story a few pages a day. It helps me keep the story in order and not loose track of where I'm going from session to session. It's one more reason I really love NaNo. I save the few pages a day discipline thing for editing, to keep me from getting so "into" story I forget to use the red pen.

The goal for me over the next few months will really be to focus on finishing a few projects I've started - hence revisiting last years NaNoWriMo for the CW "Write a thon" I have a horrible habit of starting things (books, stories...) and then letting them collect dust. This summer I will finish and prep for first reads. Or else. Other writing updates:

• "Mareskin," is out to the cover letter eating editor's cat.
• No news on "Strange" it's officially been out about 40 days according to Sonar.
  
• Envelopes addressed to the next few editors are ready for both Strange and Mareskin.
• I got a bead on the second Strange Story... working title "The Sturgeon Wife."

Eto, the business woman extraoirdinare, has put me in touch with some possible freelance work to keep gas in my car over the next few months until I start pulling down a check for this river guide gig. She's got me ordering business cards (they say "writer" how cool is that!) and figuring out how to market myself for business types that need writer types to make themselves sound like real people. I've actually heard from several people it's a good idea to have cards handy (I have ones for my job now but never hand them out except at conference) I've have been slacking on putting in an order for personal cards. Vista Prints actually gives you 250 free cards (well free plus a miniscule processing and shipping fee) so I think I'm gonna order there. The selection is a bit limited designwise, but I just need something simple with my name and contact info on it. Plus I'm already having a hard time making up my damn mind about which one to go with. Such a Gemini!

Oh, fun interactive idea: I'll post a few of the final selections and you can vote.

Once again it occurs that it's time to thank my lucky stars for the amazing people in my life who are determined to see me successful (even if they have to kick my butt every step of the way) and for the opportunities to follow my passion, and still earn some semblance of a paycheck. So here it is, one resounding "Hell yeah! Thank ya!"

Now if only gas would drop below $3.45 a gallon. (Okay I know that's going too far)